Trump Administration Appoints New Political Appointees to Permitting Council Leadership
Contact Information
Permitting Council Press Office (media@permitting.gov)
WASHINGTON (July 21, 2025) – The Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (Permitting Council) is pleased to announce two new political appointments to agency leadership. Chief of Staff Taylor Childress and Special Assistant Scott Prutting join Executive Director Emily Domenech in advancing President Trump’s charge to unlock the nation’s vast energy and mineral resources by bringing efficiency to federal permitting.
“I am truly excited to welcome Taylor Childress and Scott Prutting to Permitting Council leadership,” said Emily Domenech, Permitting Council Executive Director. “They have the experience and knowledge needed to help execute President Trump’s energy dominance agenda, and will be instrumental in our mission to bring accountability, speed, and transparency to federal permitting.”
A seasoned professional in the energy industry and federal permitting policy, Taylor Childress brings a comprehensive blend of public and private sector expertise to her leadership role at the Permitting Council. As Chief of Staff, Childress supports the Executive Director in managing the Council’s strategic operations and interagency coordination to streamline federal permitting for major infrastructure projects. She serves as a key liaison between federal agencies, stakeholders, and the Executive Office of the President, along with overseeing policy implementation to ensure alignment with FAST-41 statutory goals and the administration’s permitting priorities.
Childress most recently served as Government Affairs Manager at ClearPath, an energy advocacy organization working with Members of Congress to advance the President’s Energy Dominance agenda as it relates to nuclear and permitting policies. Prior to her work at ClearPath, Childress worked on Capitol Hill in both the Tennessee and Oklahoma delegations and handled the House Science, Space, and Technology portfolio for the Ranking Member of the Environment Subcommittee, while having worked closely with the Conservative Climate Caucus, Advanced Nuclear Caucus, and the Energy, Climate, and Conservation Task Force.
Childress holds a Master’s degree in Energy and Sustainability Engineering from Northwestern University and a bachelor’s degree from Sewanee: The University of the South.
Special Assistant Scott Prutting joins the Permitting Council with legislative experience in appropriations and an energy background. In his role as Special Assistant, he will provide policy analysis and project management expertise in support of the administration’s goals.
Prutting previously served on Capitol Hill, working for U.S. Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-TX) before joining the House Appropriations Committee. During the three years he served with the Appropriations Committee Prutting held roles on the Full Committee Staff, the Energy and Water Subcommittee, and most recently as a Policy Analyst for the Interior Subcommittee. In that role, he managed more than $1 billion in annual appropriations across the Department of the Interior and various independent agencies.
Prutting holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Texas Christian University.
Learn more about the Permitting Council at permitting.gov.
About the Permitting Council and FAST-41
Established in 2015 by Title 41 of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST-41), the Permitting Council is a federal agency charged with improving the transparency and predictability of the federal environmental review and authorization process for certain critical infrastructure projects. The Permitting Council is comprised of the Permitting Council Executive Director, who serves as the Council Chair; 13 federal agency Council members (including deputy secretary-level designees of the Secretaries of Agriculture, Army, Commerce, Interior, Energy, Transportation, Defense, Homeland Security, and Housing and Urban Development, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Chairs of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation); and the Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
The Permitting Council coordinates federal environmental reviews and authorizations for projects that seek and qualify for FAST-41 coverage. FAST-41 covered projects are entitled to comprehensive permitting timetables and transparent, collaborative management of those timetables on the Federal Permitting Dashboard. FAST-41 covered projects may be in the energy production, electricity transmission, energy storage, surface transportation, aviation, ports and waterways, water resource, broadband, pipelines, manufacturing, mining, carbon capture, semiconductors, artificial intelligence and machine learning, high-performance computing and advanced computer hardware and software, quantum information science and technology, data storage and data management, and cybersecurity sectors.
The Permitting Council also serves as a federal center for permitting excellence, supporting federal efforts to improve infrastructure permitting including and beyond FAST-41 covered projects to the extent authorized by law, including activities that promote or provide for the efficient, timely, and predictable completion of environmental reviews and authorizations for federally-authorized infrastructure projects.
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Last Updated: Monday, July 21, 2025